Princess Merewyn
by zentry
Summary: A young princess has to run away from her home, disguised as a male, and destiny carries her to Camelot. There, not just the Princess' freedom is in jeopardy but her life too if her secrets are revealed. AU. FemMerlin. Ch.1-4 Dragon s call. Ch. 5-10 Valiant.
1. Ep1 Running away

Disclaimer: I don´t own the characters of the series.

Warnings: This is an AU. I know some history but tend to be "creative" while writing. Also my general knowledge is in Spanish and gets lost in the translations ;)

Thanks to Fantasyy-Freak, MidnightSky101 and Winchester-Jackson-Petrelli for all their help.

The remaining mistakes are all mine.

.*.Introduction.*.

Two individuals hid in the shadows of the old castle. They scurried through an unused tunnel and ran to the outside of the fortress. After a while the younger of the two stopped and tried to catch her breath while waiting for her companion.

"Don´t wait for me, milady." said the oldest catching up.

Princess Merewyn huffed in a very unladylike fashion, "You are coming with me Hunith. I can´t risk father finding out that you helped my escape… he would kill you!"

"But I´ll slow you down!" tried the princess´ nanny.

Shaking her head the princess instructed, "Come on Hunith, we have to hurry!" and reassumed moving, but at a slightly slower pace so her nanny could keep up.

.*

The two shadows kept a hasty stride through the forest, whilst getting away from the castle. As morning approached, they changed course to the frontier of the kingdom, finding the cave where Hunith had stashed their traveling packs.

"Here milady, have some water."

"Thanks Hunith," said the princess taking the water-skin, "We´ll rest for a moment. We need to cross the border before my father block the roads." She took a few sips and passed the water to her nanny.

Hunith nodded her head in thanks and gladly accepted the cool liquid.

Merewyn started unpacking the supplies to find a change of clothes for the journey. "We need to get to Ealdor and settle there, before word of my escape reaches that kingdom."

"Don't worry, milady. We can be there in three days," Hunith said while helping to prepare the clothes, "and the enmity between the territories would slow the news from spreading for a week or so." she unwrapped a small bundle and turned sadly to the princess, showing her the scissors in her hand.

The princess closed her eyes and breathed deeply. When she opened them again she looked determined. "I don´t like the idea of cutting my hair… but it is necessary if I´m going to pass for a male commoner, isn´t it?"

Hunith gazed tenderly at the young princess, "Yes milady, if we want the disguise to work we need to chop your hair close to the scalp."

Gulping, Merewyn sat in front of her nanny. "Just not too close, please. My ears look bad enough when I cover them, I don´t want to think how they would look with short hair… they would look enormous!" she said pessimistically.

Hunith smiled a little at the old complaint.

.*

Merewyn wasn´t a spoiled princess; She was compassionate and always tried to help her people, but she was a princess and had been pampered all her 15 years of life.

Even if she had grown up in her father´s castle, being educated in their customs by the best teachers, had always wearing the finest gowns, and could have become a very spoilt young woman; however the princess had remained a kindhearted blossoming young woman.

Her only recurrent complaint: her dislike for her own ears.

.*

It was with a heavy heart that Hunith started cutting Merewyn's beautiful ringlets, remembering all the times she had helped the princess get ready for a feast or a festival, or when at night she had brushed the silken locks before the princess retired to sleep.

After the new hairstyle was done, Hunith helped Merewyn out of her dress; they bandaged her upper chest so it looked completely flat, and swapped the dress for peasant clothes and footwear. The disguise was completed as Merewyn cast a light glamour on herself to rough a little her facial appearance.

She was young and had just starting ^developing^ so the light alteration was enough to look like a young boy and to conceal her femininity.

.*

As they continued their hurried journey, the princess fell down a few times.

"Are you hurt, milady?" asked Hunith after a nasty-looking fall.

"Not really, but I have managed to scrap my knees and hands," hissed Merewyn, "I thought that the breeches would make it easier to run in the woods."

"I think the problem is the shoes, milady." reasoned Hunith. Using the excuse to rest a little, she sat next to the princess and examined the footwear.

"Well, I think they are too soft for this ground and maybe too big for my feet," accepted Merewyn trying to tighten the straps on the shoes.

Giving up on the straps, she turned to her nanny, "You also need to stop calling me ^milady^ and start calling me Merlin, remember?"

"Yes mi… Merlin" sighed the older woman.

"So, ^mother^, we are almost at Ealdor, aren´t we?"

"Yes, Merlin… Almost."

.*

Merlin and Hunith arrived at Ealdor; to the house that Hunith´s cousin had prepared for her and her son, and settled in. Hunit would have a good life in the small town.

A few weeks later Merewyn, now known as Merlin, was ready to leave for Camelot, having mastered her disguise to an almost innate level.

.*

"I´m not happy with this part of the plan," argued Hunith for the tenth time, "Camelot is too dangerous for somebody like you. You barely notice when you do magic and…"

"Hunith… mother" interrupted Merewyn, "that´s why I should go there, father would never think to look for me there… and your uncle agreed to give me a place to sleep."

"Yes, he´s a good man and… I´ll write to him and let him know a little about your gifts .He´s also the court physician, so he can help you with any other issues" at this Merewyn blushed a little remembering the talk that about now being a woman that her nanny had had with her a few months before.

Unaware of Merewyn's wandering thoughts, Hunith continued, "I´m sure he would help you to at least restrain your magic." She finished and went to write the letter.

.*

A few hours later Merewyn, with her disguise of a male peasant firmly in place, started her new journey toward Camelot.

.*

When she finally arrived, the first thing she saw was an execution and a mother swearing revenge to the king and his offspring. Greatly shaken, Merewyn went in search of Gaius.

By asking the guards of the castle she found Gaius´ quarters relatively easily, and after a little incident that involved saving Gaius´ life using magic, Merewyn gave him the letter from Hunith.

The old man took a seat and gestured to her to do the same.

.*

From the letter Gaius learned of her innate ability to do magic, the entire story of her running away from her kingdom, and the reason of the disguise as a male while traveling.

"Do you understand that I´d have to treat you as my ward and not as royalty?" he asked her.

"I understand" she answered.

"I´ll always call you Merlin, so I would not mistakenly call you another name in front of people" he pressed.

"I'd appreciate it" said Merewyn, glad that Gaius had understood her plight.

"I could also use a hand with some of the cures I brew." Gaius said, wanting to know if she would accept to help him.

Merewyn smiled, "Of course, it would be a way to earn my keep, wouldn´t it?"

Gaius blinked at that, "It would help me, so, in a manner, yes, it would be a way to ^earn your keep^" He hadn´t expected the princess to take it so well, but she continued smiling.

He cleared his throat, "you´ll have the room up there" he said pointing to a door, "It's not as spacious, but that way you´ll have privacy even when I have a patient here."

"Thanks." She took her pack to her new room.

That night she enjoyed the sights from her new chambers´ window, and sighed remembering the view of the "Kingdom of Falcon" that she had enjoyed from her tower at her father´s castle.

"Merlin" called Gaius from the main chamber just before he retired to sleep.

She looked out the door, "Yes?"

"Tomorrow morning I need you to do some errands for me, ok?"

"Of course sir, I´ll love the chance to know the city and some of the people." she said and went to bed thinking about all that she could do now in her new life.

*tbc*

*Next chapter: Merewyn meets the Camelot lot…*

A/N: Hope you liked this story and leave a review.

Please be kind; English is not my first language.

.*.*.*.


	2. the prince, t maid & t mysterious voice

Disclaimer: I don´t own the characters or the series.

Warnings: This is an AU. Based on the dialogue of the show.

Thanks to Fantasyy-Freak, Winchester-Jackson-Petrelli, and to MidnightSky101 for their help with this story. All remaining mistakes are just mine.

Thoughts would be marked _/like this/_

*.* .*

In the early morning Merewyn was still asleep when she heard a voice as though from far away calling her, just to be jolted awake when Gaius knocked at her door.

Reluctantly, the princess got out of the bed and went to the main chamber.

"Good morning" she said to her guardian, who looked too awake and alert at this time of the morning to her.

At the table Gaius presented her a bowl of a strange looking substance.

_/Hope this is not the everyday food I´ll get/_ she thought while taking a bit of the stuff with the spoon _/or I ´m going to die of hunger/_

Gaius seemed to find her expression funny and proceeded to explain the errands he wanted her to perform. Fortunately he also presented some edible food that she could take with her.

.*

Merewyn was excited about exploring the city and meeting people. And everything went well until the first man she had to deliver a potion to, didn't wait for the instructions, drank the entire vial and then closed the door in her face.

Praying that Gaius would never find about it she left the building and continued with the deliveries.

She was admiring the height of some of the constructions when she saw a group of young men making fun of a peasant who was running with a bulls eye while one of them threw knives to their ^moving target^. Then she saw the peasant trip and fall.

For a moment, Merewyn forgot that this wasn´t her kingdom, that she wouldn't be recognized as a princess and that she shouldn't be noticeable, and before she remembered all this she intervened;

"Hey! that´s enough. You've had your fun my friend." She called to the group while getting close to the fallen man.

The young man that had been throwing the knives approached, and he didn´t look happy.

_/oh no/_ now she remembered that this was Camelot and not Falcon.

"Who are you?" asked the blond man.

"I´m... Merlin" she tried to look as friendly as possible.

The man didn't look impressed, "You called me friend?" He said petulantly.

And while her mind thought _/oh, great, a spoiled prat/ her_ mouth retorted "excuse my mistake, not one of my friends would ever be such an ass."

From that, the situation truly deteriorated.

Ok, calling a stranger a friend wasn't really a good idea. Calling him an ass was worse, but trying to hit said young man when you have no idea of how to fight properly, was insane.

So Merewyn found herself with her arm twisted painfully at her back.

"You are going to jail for that" warned the blond man.

The princess cried out "Who do you think you are... the king?" still trying to sound insulting.

"No, I´m his son, Arthur" he said before pushing her to her knees, _/Ow, that hurt! /_

Then the guards took her to the dungeons, and none too gently threw her in the cell.

Sprawled in the straw she looked around dejectedly, /_accomplishements of the day; delivered one pouch of herbs successfully, check. Delivered one potion without proper instructions, check. Insulted the prince of Camelot, check. Try to hit said prince without result, check. Get to know closely the ^best^ part of the Camelot underworld, check... Gaius is going to kill me/_

She sat and hugged her legs thinking _/I wonder how long they would keep me here, I could get out with magic but I guess that would not be wise. /_

_/ I suppose that talking back to those men wasn´t wise either but... Why did he do that? Just because he´s the prince he has not got the right to torture the people. The last time I behaved like that I was five or six years old and Hunith looked at me with such disappoint that.../_

Merewyn fell asleep thinking _/I guess this prince Arthur never had a nanny like Hunith. /_

*.*.*

It was early morning once more when she heard the voice calling her name again. Waking faster thanks to the uncomfortable ^bed^, she looked around for the source of the voice. She was so intent in finding it that Gaius startled her when he opened the cell door.

He looked at her severely "What part of ^keeping your head down^ did you not understand Merlin?"

"Sorry?" she said trying to avoid looking at his eyes.

Gaius arched an eyebrow, "Let´s go. I came to get you out of here."

"Really?" she asked eagerly, "Oh, thank you Gaius. I´ll never forget this..."

"Well," he had a strange glint in his eyes "there is a small price to pay for your freedom."

"Price?" she asked surprised, she didn´t have funds, and just the basic belongings for a peasant boy.

The meagre possessions from her princess´ days had been secreted at Hunith´s home back in Ealdor.

Gaius just left the cell and Merewyn had to hurry to keep up with the old man.

.*

She had never before stopped to think how humiliating it was to be hit by rotten fruits and vegetables.

For her, being in the stocks wasn´t fun, but Gaius seemed to find the incident hilarious.

_/Ok, I learned my lesson, if I don´t want to taste putrid food I have to ^keep my head down^... literally/_ she thought while trying to spit out some of the rotten juices that slid into her mouth.

Merewyn turned her head; a young woman was getting close to the stock.

"I´m Guinevere," the woman said, "Most people call me Gwen; I´m lady Morgana´s maid."

Merewyn blinked,_/what is the protocol in a situation like this? /_

"Hum... Hi?" she mumbled back "I´m Mer...lin"

They awkwardly shook hands.

"You must think I´m an idiot" said the disguised princess.

"Oh no, I saw what you did. You were so brave" smiled Gwen.

"And so stupid" interjected Merewyn.

After a strange conversation where Gwen repeatedly pointed out that Merlin wasn't as strong as Arthur, hadn't the muscles, and wasn't the rough -tough-saving the world kind.

Merewyn looked astonished at Gwen _/is she trying to make me feel better or worse_? / She thought, and then blurted "I´m in disguise."

But the young maid just laughed.

The princess wasn´t sure if she should feel insulted or relieved that her male disguise was so unassuming.

Gwen redeemed herself by calling Merewyn a real hero, but then had to leave in a hurry when Merewyn 's ^fans^ came back with more ammunition.

_/Close your eyes, close your mouth, and resist girl. /_ The princess tried to encourage herself.

_/This is going to pass soon. /_ Her forced optimism evaporated when the first lettuce hit her. _/Aw! /_

*.*.*

Gaius was there when, finally, Merewyn was let out of the stocks. But she had to wait until later, at the physician´s home, to wash away the bits of food that had stuck at her hair and face.

Back at her guardian´s main room, the old man offered Merewyn some dinner. "Do you want some vegetables with that?" he asked merrily.

Merewyn raised her head, surprised, and found the old man smiling. She tried to look offended, but the laughter bubbled out from her and with a lighter heart she started eating.

"I read Hunith´s letter again and found something interesting," said the physician "She seems to think that your ^condition^ started at a very young age."

Merewyn arched an eyebrow "You are not talking about me being a girl, are you?"

"No, I´m talking about your other gift" explained the old man.

"Mhm, I never really understand why she calls them my two gifts. Don´t know what´s so good about being a girl since my father wanted a boy to be the heir... and for my magic, well, I scared away all my previous nannies by summoning things from my cradle. Until I got Hunith. No maid lasted more than a week."

"You were that young when you started to show aptitudes?" asked Gaius intrigued.

"Yes, I believe that I was born like this."

"I have never heard of something like that"

"Never?"

"No. For what I knew of magic it requires incantations and, sometimes to learn the spells could take years. To do it so naturally, almost by instinct is... ^very special^"

"That´s was Hunith always said" mumbled Merewyn, "That I was really special."

Then Gaius explained how Uther banned magic from the kingdom and made it his mission to destroy anything related to it, even dragons. But that not all dragons died, that there was still one imprisoned deep beneath the castle.

They finished the meal and Merewyn left to deliver a potion to Lady Helen for her voice.

*tbc*

*Next chapter: Merewyn fights the prince… and meets a dragon.*

A/N: Please leave a review, be kind; English is not my first language.

.*.*.*.

Author´s Note unbeta-ed:

Greetings from México to the people from Belgium, Germany and France. I was young when I had the opportunity to visit your countries, but I still remember how beautiful they are.

To the people of Ireland, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Sweden & Australia, I think that your countries are so marvellous that I hope, someday, I would be able to travel there ;)

To the people from México: Espero que no les haya ido tan mal con el huracán Alex como a nosotros los del norte. Si hay alguien más de por acá, agarrense que ahí viene otro. Gracias por sus comentarios.


	3. Fight the prince, meet the dragon

Disclaimer at chapter one.

Thoughts are marked _/like this/._

*Chapter 3: Fight the prince, meet the dragon.*

.*.*.*.

Merewyn went to the castle to deliver the potion for Lady Helen. There wasn´t anybody in the chambers so the princess entered to put the small bottle on the table next to a straw doll.

_/A straw doll? /_ She picked it up _/strange/_

There were other eccentric things strewn across the room too.

She put the doll back in its original position and lifted some of the fabrics that were beside it. Under them there was a strange sort of old book.

_/Maybe a diary?_ / Merewyn had just taken it in her hands when she heard a noise from the corridor and hurriedly put the book down and covered it again.

At that moment Lady Helen entered the chambers and looked surprised to find Merlin there.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

Merewyn fingered the vial on the table "I brought something for your voice." She answered and quickly left the room.

/_Lady Helen seemed angered_/ the princess mused, /_a lady like her should be used to find servants in her chambers_/ Merewyn left the tower and walked out of the castle.

/_I guess she is not used to male chambermaids_/ she chuckled /_I´m a man servant!_ /

People looked at Merlin oddly, thinking he was weird, as he laughed to himself.

.*.*.

It was at the entrance of one of the alleys, that Merewyn passed Arthur and his friends.

When Arthur noticed Merlin, he called out to him. She tried to ignore the prince… for a second or two, but the princess had still too much pride to back out of a challenge.

"Don´t run away" taunted Arthur.

Merewyn stopped walking away and turned to the blond man, "From you?" she asked sarcastically.

Arthur smirked, "Oh, I thought you were deaf as well as daft."

Merewyn sent him a glare, "And I thought you were an ass… just didn´t realize you were a royal one." She called back and looked around "Oh and you carry your friends around to protect you."

Arthur looked more offended at this than at being called an ass. "I can take you alone."

"I can take you too" taunted Merewyn.

"Are you sure?" asked Arthur, gaining back some of his confidence.

"Here, big man," he said throwing a mace at her.

For a moment Merewyn panicked and the mace fell to the ground, to the amusement of Arthur and his friends.

/_I can't believe that I forgot that I can´t use magic here… /_ thought Merewyn /_ what am I going to do now?_ /

"I must warn you" said Arthur, "that I have been trained to kill since birth."

/_arrogant_/ thought Merewyn and instinctively she retorted "And how long have you been training to be a prat?"

That seemed to infuriate the prince even more "You can´t address me like that!" he growled.

/_ Ok, you want proper ^etiquette^, I can do that_/ "Oh, excuse me my lord" she said out loud, "I didn't know YOU didn´t need to practice to be a prat."

Fortunately she had bowed low while saying that or Arthur´s strike would have hit her fully on the face.

_/Me and my big mouth_/ Merewyn chastised herself, while trying to avoid Arthur's swings.

Merewyn tumbled through the alley. Arthur and her were breaking stands and making a mess as she tripped again and again.

After a nasty fall and afraid to look too closely at Arthurs´s weapon she instinctively used magic and trapped Arthur´s mace with a couple of hooks hanging of a stand. As it worked, she continued using her power to make the prince trip as he went after her.

She had just made him fall, when she got distracted; she saw Gaius in the crowd that had formed and, unfortunately, Arthur used her distraction to hit Merewyn with a broom.

Sprawled in the dirt, hurting, she blinked at the prince before being hauled up by some guards.

_/Ow, not the stocks again/_ she mewled.

Unexpectedly, Arthur stopped the guards before they carried her away. "Wait," he said "let him go. He´s an idiot…..But a brave one." He glared at Merewyn. "There is something about you Merlin, but I can´t really tell what it is." He turned away and left.

Merewyn swayed on her feet until Gaius steadied her.

When he didn´t say anything right away, Merewyn got worried. Together they walked to Gaius´ home. The steps-up jolted Merewyn pains.

Gaius just shook his head at her muffled whimpers, and guided her to the table.

"What were you thinking?" he chastised.

"I didn´t start it!" she tried to defend herself.

"Merlin, he´s the prince," he censured "He can start anything he wants, but you… How can you be so foolish?"

"What was I supposed to do? Let him kill me?" she looked close to tears.

"Merlin you used magic against the prince of Camelot! If anybody had noticed…"

She stood, "Well, excuse me if I´m not a warrior, and all I have is magic… and he needed a lesson. I can´t believe he´s a prince, that someday he´s going to be king and …"

"You can´t go around ^teaching^ people with magic" Gaius pointed out, feeling calmer.

The tears were now running free down Merewyn's face "Don't´ you see, I have lost everything else, if I can´t use magic… then I´m nothing."

Gaius kept quiet so she went to her room and carefully sat on her bed, her tears gliding down her face.

.*

Later, Gaius entered her room. "Let me see your back." He said gently.

Merewyn lay on her stomach and the old physician pulled up her tunic. Fortunately, the bandages on her upper chest acted as padding so she was mostly just bruised.

Gaius cleaned a scrape on her shoulder, gave her something for the pain and left her alone with her thoughts.

Merewyn lay sprawled on the bed. _/I could have stayed at Falcon… but I decided to leave. I chose to hide in man clothes and come to Camelot, now I have to live with the consequences of my choices. I knew I'd have to act as a peasant; hold my tongue and keep my head down… but I didn´t realize it would be so hard. /_

Again, she fell asleep thinking. That night she dreamed of yelling at the king, the same words that the old witch had screamed at Uther when he had killed her son, "There is one evil in this land and it´s not magic… it´s you!"

She startled awake. Somebody had called out her name. There it was that mysterious voice again, but this time she thought that she could pinpoint the direction of the source, so she pulled on her footwear and left the room following the voice to the under-undergrounds of the castle, to a cave that was dimly lighted. She stood in a little salient that branched out from the cliff.

"Where are you?" she called. Even the echo sounded strange for a cave this big. She was startled as something flew by her.

"I´m here" it called and she observed, astonished as a dragon landed on a rock in front of her.

With big clear eyes Merewyn stared at the dragon.

The dragon inclined its head and sized her up, "How small you are for such a great destiny" it said.

"What do you mean?" She had always thought she was tall for a woman but had never compared it to a destiny.

"Your gift was given to you for a reason."

"So there is a reason" it was good to know she was not just a fluke or a freak.

"Arthur is the future king who would unite the land of Albion."

_/So Arthur is important, future king and blah, blah, blah._ _/ _She thought.

The dragon glared at her as if he could read her mind, "But he will face many trials and dangers from friends and foes alike."

Merewyn scratched her head, "I don´t see what it has to do with me."

"Everything! Without you he will not succeed. Without you there would not be Albion, and he´ll never become the great ruler he´s destined to be.

_/Arthur a great ruler? /_ "You are mistaken… You got it wrong."

"There is no right or wrong. Your destiny is to protect him."

"No I can´t protect him, seriously, if anybody wants to kill him then they can go ahead… I´ll even give them pointers… I´ll even give them a hand!"

The dragon laughed. _/Who knew that dragons had a sense of humor?_ _/ _

Then it said "Nobody can change or escape their destiny."

"Then Arthur will not need me to fulfill his destiny." She mused.

The dragon growled, and Merewyn jumped at the sound.

"No? Then it must be another Arthur, because this one is an idiot." She declared.

"Perhaps," said the dragon extending his wings "It is your destiny to change that." And it flew away.

"Wait!" cried Merewyn, "Don´t leave, I need to know more!" but the dragon didn´t even look back.

Merewyn stared at the empty space for a few minutes, then turned around and went back to Gaius´ home.

_/Arthur would become the great ruler of all Albion? Boy, maybe he has it more hard than I do… I mean, he´s a cocky prat and now I´m supposed to protect him? How am I supposed to protect him? He´s already a very good fighter_/ she admitted.

_/He has guards and all those knights surrounding him. What could I do to keep him safe? All I have is my magic, and magic is forbidden by penalty of death in Camelot so…/_ she thought while walking up to her room and to her bed.

_/I can´t even take him to Falcon so I could use magic to keep him safe, because then I would be at the mercy of the great wizard/ _she sighed.

_/and to change him from a spoiled brat to a worthy King… I think even Hunith would have trouble with that and she has been practicing with me. Why does everything have to be so hard?_ _/_

*tbc*

*Next chapter: The feast, the witch... the dagger.*

A/N: Please leave a review,

Be kind; English is not my first language.

.*.*.*.


	4. The feast, the witch the dagger

.*.*.*.

Disclaimer: I don´t own the characters or the series. This is an AU, based on the TV show, with my version of the events ;)

Thanks to Fantasyy-Freak for all the help.

Thoughts are marked _/like this/._

* The feast, the witch... the dagger.*

.*.*.*.

In the morning, Gaius went to wake her and looked around the room baffled. "Have you seen the state of this room?" he asked.

"Sorry" mumbled Merewyn from under the covers, "I´m not used to cleaning up after myself and this…" she said gesturing to the clothes around the floor "just happens"

Gaius´ mouth twisted in a smile. "Just happens... Like magic?"

Merewyn shrugged.

Gaius shook his head, "Maybe it's time for you to learn to tidy up without magic."

"Maybe" Merewyn was not at all convinced.

"Now, get up" he said, "we have a hectic day ahead of us; I need you to gather some herbs, deliver some medicine to Lady Morgana for her nightmares, clean the main room… but you better start with your room. Oh, and today there is a feast at the court and we´ll get to hear Lady Helen´s beautiful songs. So, hurry up!"

.*.*.*.

Much later, a slightly tired princess went to deliver the medicine for Lady Morgana. Merewyn went to the tower, hoping to avoid meeting Arthur at this wing of the castle.

At the entrance of the chambers, Merewyn found the door ajar and went in, looking for Gwen or the Lady.

Thinking that who had entered was Gwen and without turning around, Morgana continued talking and went behind the screen to change her clothes and to the surprise of Merewyn, the Lady asked for her gown.

Merewyn got a little nervous, she didn´t want to scare the Lady if she realized that a strange man was in her chambers…and while she undressed!

The disguised princess quickly looked around and found a beautiful dress on a settee.

She couldn´t help it, and touched the soft garment with yearning, before giving it to the Lady over the screen.

As Morgana turned to her, Merewyn quickly hid behind a cloak, a beautiful blue with silver, soft… she dropped the cloth in a hurry, Lady Helen had gotten angry when she had found her in her chambers and Merewyn didn't want to anger the king´s ward.

She hurried to the door to leave when Morgana asked for help with the dress and the princess panicked, fortunately Gwen came back that instant so Merewyn shrugged, made a few faces at the maid, shoved the vial in her hands and walked away... quickly.

.*

Merewyn decided not to mention the incident to Gaius, so she went to collect the herbs that the physician needed. It wasn´t an easy task as the old man liked to call them by weird names but she had the descriptions of the herbs, which made her job easier.

So the princess brought the herbs to Gaius and was quick to tell him that the job was carried-out incident free.

.*.*.*.

At the feast, to which Merewyn went as Gaius' assistant, she was admiring the décor when she saw Arthur with his friends. Then she noticed Lady Morgana entering and Merewyn couldn´t help but stare at the beautiful dress.

Oblivious to what Gaius was saying, Merewyn continued staring until Gwen got close enough to comment "Beautiful, don´t you think?"

"Oh, yes" breathed Merewyn referring to the wonderful gown.

Gwen tried to engage Merewyn in conversation "Some people were born to be a queen"

The comment was like a stab for Merewyn, who had lost her own kingdom, and she gaped at the maid mumbling "she?"

"I hope so, one day" said a smiling Gwen. "Not that I want to be her. She would have to marry Arthur."

Merewyn had to breathe deeply and clear her throat before saying "I thought you liked the tough-I´ll save the world-kind."

"No," Gwen all but shouted, "I´d like to marry someone more ordinary; someone like you."

Merewyn smiled at that, "Believe me, I´m not ordinary."

Gwen blushed and babbled something about ^you, not you, but ordinary like you^

Merewyn was truly confused at that.

"Thanks" was all she said while glaring at the maid. _/weird/_ she thought and went back to admiring all the gowns and jewelry of the Ladies present.

.*

Everybody went to their seats as the King arrived, and Lady Helen began to sing.

At first, Merewyn smiled when she saw Arthur nodding in his seat. Thinking that he didn´t liked the song or that he found the music boring.

Then she started to notice that something weird was going on as more and more people started to fall asleep, as if compelled by the singing.

Merewyn, for a second, felt her eyelids drooping heavily and she blinked desperately, shook her head and covered her ears to block the sound of Lady Helen´s voice.

Soon all the court was asleep and Merewyn became even more scared as webs started to cover everybody.

_/What kind of enchantment is this? /_ She thought frantically _/and how __can__ I stop it? / _

Then Lady Helen pulled out a knife from within the folds of her sleeves… and the straw doll that Merewyn remembered seeing in Lady Helen's room. The doll was wrapped in a small piece of red cloth.

Merewyn remained still and observed the singer as she stabbed the doll and Prince Arthur shuddered in his throne.

As the Lady got ready to stab the doll again Merewyn´s magic focused on stopping the woman and with a golden flash of her eyes, the princess let the big ornate chandelier fall on the sorceress.

As the sorceress was crushed, everyone began to wake and they clambered out of the web-like cocoons trying to understand what had happened and were shocked at the fallen chandelier.

Everybody stared as an old woman, not Lady Helen, tried to emerge without success from under the heavy chandelier.

Merewyn recognized her at once; she was the woman that had sworn revenge against the king, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a son for a son." She had yelled that day at the execution.

_/Oh, no/_ thought Merewyn turning toward Arthur, the prince was cradling his arm as if hurt. Merewyn´s gaze turned back to the center of the room.

The witch had crawled from under the chandelier badly hurt, and stretched until she reached the small blade that she had dropped earlier.

For a moment Merewyn was glad when the woman couldn´t reach the doll but then the witch threw the knife at the prince.

Instinctively Merewyn slowed time with her magic, reached the prince and pulled him out of the path of the knife.

As they tumbled to the floor, the blade embedded in the throne, the old woman died on the floor, the straw doll turned to ashes and the enchantment on Arthur broke and he jolted a little.

_/Ow, my ribs/_ though Merewyn; as Arthur was pinning her to the floor she felt his shudder directly on her sore ribs _/if they weren´t broken before, surely they are now. /_

With the enchantment broken, Arthur quickly got to his feet and looked around tensely.

Merewyn up-righted herself more slowly and discreetly pressed her hand to her head; the place where the prince had hit her with the broom was still tender but at least, after this day´s dive it was not bleeding.

_/__Uh__, oh/_ everybody was looking at her. _/Has my glamour faltered? /_ She thought in panic.

Even Arthur was staring at her intensely.

As the King approached, Merewyn was ready to bolt away.

"You saved my boy´s life" stated the King.

Merewyn blinked _/What? /_ She felt so relieved; they weren´t condemning her, or her magic.

She thought that the King mentioned something about a reward and maybe she mumbled something about it not being necessary, but at the moment all she could hear was her own heart thumping frantically until…

"You should be Prince Arthur´s manservant."

_/What? /_ She turned and saw the same surprise she felt, on the prince´s face. Arthur and Merewyn glared at each other with the same desperate look.

"Father?" Arthur whined.

The rest of the people clapped.

She could have sworn that Gaius smiled.

_/Why me? / _Merewyn thought.

.*.*.

Merewyn was back at Gaius' quarters.

With a sad face she was thinking about what had happened at the court. Even when the old physician approached her, she didn´t appear to acknowledge him.

"Seems you are a hero," stated Gaius.

Merewyn breathed deeply, "Hard to believe, isn´t it?"

The old man looked at her kindly, "No," he said "I knew since you saved my life."

The princess blinked at that "But, I used magic."

Gaius shrugged "and you used it to save Arthur´s life too." He smiled, "We seem to have found its purpose."

_/Are you saying…? /_ Merewyn was looking at the physician with big eyes. "My destiny" she breathed.

"Indeed."

Gaius rummaged within his robes and withdrew a book.

Merewyn was still stuck at her thoughts _/was what the dragon said true then? / _

"This book," Gaius interrupted her musings "was given to me when I was your age" he said and passed an old, heavy tome to the princess. "You will have to hide it well, though."

"A book of magic?" she asked surprised, "That´s why Hunith said you could help me with my gifts?"

Gaius smiled lightly.

A shout outside the chambers called her´ ^Camelot name^.

Gaius smile widened, "Merlin, your destiny is calling. You better go and find out what he wants."

_/I wonder/_ thought Merewyn with a light smile as she went out of the room _/what are the man-servant duties… He would not expect me to wash his clothes or clean his rooms, would he? /_

.*.*.*.*.*.*.

*END*

A/N: Hope you liked this story and leave a review. (Please be kind; English is not my first language)

A/N 2: Should I try and do the "Valiant" episode?

Let me know what you think.

*.*.*.*.*


	5. Ep2 Valiant

Disclaimer: I don´t own the characters of the series.

Warnings: (Episode 2 of the TVshow)

.*.

This is an AU, but follows the second episode of the series with Merlin being a young princess who escaped from her kingdom. Finally there is the beginning of the next episode: Valiant.

Thanks to Evil E. Evil and Anne-Lilian for all their help and encouragement.

The remaining mistakes are all mine.

Thoughts are marked _/like this/._

.*. Introduction .*.

Merewyn, like every day since she escaped her father's kingdom, applied a light glamour to rough some of her facial features, bandaged her upper chest so it looked completely flat and tied a neckerchief to help hide the absence of the Adam's apple so if she ever lost the glamour she would still look like a very handsome boy, as she got ready for her first day as Arthur's manservant.

She was supposed to help the Prince train for the coming tournament, whatever that implied. Merewyn had been a witness of competitions, both magical and physical at Falcon's kingdom but didn´t have a clue of how a Camelot's tournament would be or how she could help Arthur.

At first Merewyn had been thrilled to wear armor and wield a sword, but started feeling less than happy about the arrangement as the day progressed.

"Body, shield, body, head!" shouted Arthur while hitting said parts with his sword, "come on Merlin, you are not even trying!"

Merewyn stumbled under the force of the strikes and the weight of her gear.

"Left, right, left, head! Come on Merlin."

The princess stumbled, almost going down with the force of Arthur's strikes.

Then Arthur changed the pace of the strikes suddenly, "Body, shield, shield, head!" And finally Merlin fell down unceremoniously.

"You are braver than you look," laughed Arthur, "most servants fall at the first blow."

Merewyn smiled at the praise. "Is it over?" she asked hopefully.

Arthur smiled with a hint of mischief. "We are just starting," he said. "Now we'll try the maces."

The rest of the "training" was almost the same, with Arthur`s attacks only stopping when Merewyn was flat on the ground.

A few times the Princess was tempted to use magic to knock Arthur out so she could rest for a few minutes, but she restrained herself... but only just.

.*.*.

When Merewyn finally went back to Gaius´ room, her entire body felt like a big bruise. She got through the door and dropped the last pieces of the armor that she still had clinging in her arms.

"How was your first day as Arthur´s sparring partner?" Gaius asked merrily as he saw her dragging her feet.

"Do you hear clanging?" she whimpered.

The old physician smiled at her antics, "Come here; let me check how badly you are hurt." He said compassionately, gesturing to a chair.

As she settled he started massaging her aching arms.

The disguised princess groaned "It was horrible! He just expected me to know what to do, he didn't explain anything!" she complained. "I had a hard time getting into the armor, then he kept hitting me down, I couldn't block a single hit from "his pratness" and now everything hurts."

Gaius chuckled "As the prince's manservant you'll have to know these kind of things" he explained, "He's the prince and his duty is to train to be a good knight and king, not to teach the servants."

"I need to know all about tournaments by the morning, "she said, and with a golden flash of her eyes a book about armor flew from the bookshelf and landed open on the table.

Gaius hit her on the head "What have I told you about using magic like this?"

Merewyn rubbed her head "I'm too tired to pick it up," she explained.

"What would I do if you got caught?"

"What would you do?" asked the princess, puzzled.

Gaius hit her in the head again "Just make sure you don't get caught."

"It's so unfair," whined the girl. "I save Arthur from being killed and as repayment I end as his servant."

The old physician chuckled. "If you think about it, it may be fun..."

"Fun? How could mucking out the stables be fun? You should see my list of duties!"

"We all have duties, Merlin. Even Arthur. He's expected to be the future King, and he has to learn to be a good one."

"Of course," mocked the princess, "doing whatever he wants, having everyone complimenting him for being a prat, with all the girls fawning at him and the glory he gets…"

"I thought _you_ would understand better some of the pressures of the court," he said glaring at her disappointingly. "Also, the tournament is so close that he needs to be at his best, and he's feeling the extra pressure."

"That makes two of us." She mumbled as Gaius twisted her sore arm.

.*.*.

Merewyn made a pout and went to her room. As a princess she had just been starting to feel the pressure of being the future ruler, but even she knew that new servants would arrange things the way she liked if she took the time to explain it to them; like which flowers should be in each vase, what her favorite soup was, or that she never wanted help to get on her horse when she took her riding classes.

Well, if the Prince wouldn´t teach her, she would have to find somebody else willing to do it.

After Gaius had literally laughed in her face when Merewyn asked him for help with the armor, she went in search of Gwen, thinking that maybe she could point to a good teacher.

Fortunately for her, Gwen knew a lot about body armors, chainmail and shields; also, being a part time seamstress, she had the patience and will to teach Merewyn. Patience being the most important part.

"And you know what to do with the helmet, don't you?" asked Gwen with a kind smile on her face.

"Yes, I was able to figure it out," answered the disguised princess. At first Merewyn had been a little nervous, especially with Gwen standing so close to her as they started fitting the armor, fearing that the older servant would discover her secret. But after a while, as the glamour held, Merewyn started to relax and enjoy the lesson.

"How are you so much better at this than me?"

"I'm the blacksmith daughter; I pretty much know all about this… it is kind of sad if you think about it."

Merewyn smiled "No, it's brilliant!" And the two girls shared a laugh.

.*ToBeContinued*.

Next chapter: The tournament begins.

.*.

Happy Halloween !

A/N: Hope you liked this story and leave a review.

Please be kind; English is not my first language.


	6. The tournament begins

Princess Merewyn AU

The story series follows Merewyn through the episodes, and just her. If something happened without her present, or things that the other characters do or think and she doesn´t know, it would not be in this story.

Thanks to Evil E. Evil and Anne-Lilian for all their help and encouragement.

The remaining mistakes are all mine.

Thoughts are marked _/like this/._

.*.*.

The tournament begins

.*.*.

Merewyn had been careful while getting Arthur in the armor, but still he shouted at her and went out angry, saying he wasn't nervous but being very impatient.

/_How could I forget the sword_/ thought Merewyn, annoyed with herself /_and why am I so nervous if it's not me who has to fight? /_

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, the disguised Princess checked if her glamour was unaffected by her anxiety and went after Arthur. The Prince was already with the rest of the Knights.

She got to a side of the arena to watch the events. The Knights' parade stopped in front of the King's box.

Merewyn couldn't help but watch the Knights carefully, all of them had something special; charm, presence, musculature. But not all of them were handsome, and of course not as handsome as Arthur… Well, she could at least accept that the prat was good looking, even if he was insufferable.

The King gave a speech; Mer was too far to hear all the words but got glimpses of how the tournament would go. The winner would have to fight Arthur, who was the actual champion and the victor would get a prize in gold.

She wasn't sure if Arthur would get the prize if he was made champion again, she would have to ask somebody later.

Then the tournament began and the thought of gold flew from her mind as she watched Arthur fight another Knight.

The Prince looked concentrated, Merewyn couldn't help but cheer for him as he won the combat with a blow to the head of his opponent.

Arthur got out of the arena but stayed in the sidelines, close to Merewyn, to see the next fight. She was nervous and tried some small talk, but it seemed that the Prince did not like her comment about Knight Valiant being good with the sword.

Later, when Merewyn was helping Arthur to get out of his armor, Knight Valiant passed near and offered his congratulations to the Prince's victories.

Both Knights had a polite conversation, but still something felt off to Merewyn.

"Creep," she couldn't help but comment.

Arthur's serious face transformed into a small smile for less than a second before turning back to a frown. "For tomorrow you need to repair my shield, wash my tunic, clean my boots, sharpen my sword and polish my chainmail," he informed before leaving.

Merewyn stayed stunned for a moment. For a second the Prince had looked at her almost friendly and then in the next blink he went back to being a brat.

The Princess started gathering the pieces of the armor in disbelief, all the while thinking: _/I was never like that, nothing like that… Oh, no, what if I was like him, was I ever like that with the servants at the castle? Of course not, or Hunith would have been more than displeased with me. / _and carried her chores to her room.

_/If I have to do all this, I´ll do it my own way, yes sir! /_

She took the tunic and a bucket where to wash it, tested the movement and with a flash of gold in her eyes, the cloth settled to do the movement by itself. _/Good/_ Next she got the boots and the brush moving, then the sword and the whet stone, and in the end everything was magic-motioned to be ready.

Happy as all the chores were going well, Merewyn got out the book about magic that Gaius had give her and plopped on the bed to study it, stretching her concentration on the charmed objects and the book was a good test for her magic, she thought.

Merewyn had just started to relax into her reading when Gaius appeared at her door. Startled, she lost hold of the magically done chores and the pieces of armor fell noisily to the floor making her cringe.

"You are using magic again," pointed out the old physician.

Mer widened her eyes anxiously "Uhm… No." she said, trying -and failing- to look innocent.

"What is all this then?" he asked annoyed, gesturing to all the things scattered on the floor.

Not trusting her voice, Merewyn shrugged and shook her head as if she didn't know what had happened.

Arching his eyebrow, Gaius never stopped glaring at her "Just came to tell you supper is ready."

Merewyn sighed and got out of the bed.

.*

After Gaius and Merewyn had the usual 'using magic in Camelot would get you killed' they spend the rest of the supper in an uncomfortable silence.

Then Mer went to the armory with Arthur's things so they would be ready for the next day. She was putting them in order when she heard a soft sound she couldn't identify.

She looked around but didn't see anything strange.

_/Maybe it was the chainmail moving, or a shield scrapping over the floor_. / She thought and left the room.

.*.*.

In the morning she went back to the armory to collect Arthur's armour.

There she heard the strange sound again. Unconsciously she moved toward it, getting close to a shield with snakes painted on it.

Mer was sure she had seen the shield in the battle camp of the tournament the previous day and got closer to check it.

The disguised Princess fell down on her butt as she clearly saw one of the painted snakes blink. (1) _/What the…/_ her thought was interrupted as she felt a sword pointed at her chest and she recoiled hoping that the Knight holding the sword didn't feel the little bump of her wrapped breasts.

"Did you lose something, boy?" the Knight, Lord Valiant asked.

"No, I'm good," she said relieved as he addressed her as "boy" without hesitation. "Well, I fell, but I'm good now." She started feeling uneasy under the Knight heavy glare. "I was just gathering my Master's armor."

"Then you must hurry."

"Oh, yes. No trouble," she babbled as she collected the prince's gear and fled, nearly bumping into Lord Valiant as she rushed by.

When she was far enough she stopped and leaned against a wall, shuddering, and trying to regain her breath.

The last time the Princess had felt such bad vibes, was back in her father's kingdom when she had been introduced to her possible future betrothed. And that hadn't resulted well.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself and get rid of the unpleasant thoughts, she went to Arthur's room and placed all the gear in order so she wouldn't forget anything this time.

And she didn't; Mer managed to get the Prince dressed without fault. She felt so proud that couldn't contain her smile.

"That was much better," the Prince commented, "not that you could do it any worse."

/_Wow, that almost sounded like a compliment, well, the first part at least. _/ she thought. "I'm a fast learner," Mer said happily at the skeptical glare that Arthur was giving her.

"Hope that's true," was all that the blonde said.

"Good luck," she said as he left to the tournament. Then she surreptitiously checked that nothing had been left behind before following him out.

.*

Merewyn stayed at the sidelines of the Knights' entrance again to observe the fight. She was smiling proudly as she watched Arthur's performance.

"Is it my imagination or you are starting to enjoy your job?" asked Gaius, joining her.

"It's not totally horrible all the time," she said nonchalantly "the job, not him," Mer clarified, "He is horrible most of the time. Arthur, I mean, not the job."

"Really?" mumbled Gaius a little confused.

.*.*.

Merewyn cheered for Arthur through the fight and when he defeated his opponent, but started getting worried watching Lord Valiant vs. Sir Ewan.

Valiant was very aggressive the entire time and Mer couldn't help but hold her breath when she saw Ewan fall at a powerful strike, and then got held down by the yellow clothed Knight.

She let out a soft "No!" when she saw Valiant punch the downed fighter before the merciless Knight got up to celebrate his victory.

Mer went to Arthur's side as they saw Gaius run to Sir Ewan.

"He seems badly hurt," she mumbled.

The Prince nodded and left the arena.

Merewyn looked a last time toward the drama in the arena before speeding up to the tents to help Arthur with his armour so she could hurry to Gaius quarters later.

.*TBC*.

Next chapter: snakes in the plane… no planes yet? Oh, in the battle field then? Yes?

OK.

Next chapter: snakes in the battle field

(1) Very important Author`s note: Painted magic-ed snakes can blink ;)

Hope you liked this story and leave a review.

Please be kind; English is not my first language.


	7. Snakes in the battlefield

Disclaimer: I don´t own the characters of the series.

Warnings: Sequel to "Princess Merewyn". This is an AU, but follows the second episode of the series with Merlin being a young Princess who escaped from her kingdom.

In the story I refer to her as Merewyn or Mer, but the rest of the character call her Merlin as they don´t know she´s a Princess or, in the case of Gaius who knows the truth, so he doesn´t make a mistake in the wrong moment.

Thanks to Andreia for all her help and encouragement.

The remaining mistakes are all mine.

Thoughts are marked _/like this/._

.*.*.

Chapter 3 Snakes

.*.*.

"How is he?" she asks the moment she enters the physician´s room and notices Gaius examining the hurt Knight carefully.

"Well, this is a bit strange," Gaius, beckoning her closer, answered. "Look at this; two wounds. They look like snake bites," he pondered confused.

Mer blinked at the diagnosis "How could a snake bite him while competing in the tournament?"

"Don´t know, but the symptoms are the same as those of poisoning; too slow pulse, fever, paralysis…" He started listing before being interrupted.

"Can you help him?" asked the disguised Princess hopefully.

Gaius turned to look at her. "If it is a snake bite I would need the venom of the snake to make an antidote."

"What happens if he doesn´t get the antidote?" Mer asked, a little afraid of the most possible answer.

"I´m afraid that there would not be anything I can do to help him: He´s going to die." Gaius said, his voice filled with sorrow.

_/How could he die of a snake bite if he was fighting in a place where no snakes should be, but…/_ "He was fighting with Lord Valiant" she mumbled.

"What´s that?" asked Gaius not really paying attention to her.

/_the sound, the blink… could it be?_ /"Hum, nothing" she said and left in a hurry, in search of Valiant wondering if the strange things she had seen and heard were connected.

Fortunately she found the Knight more quickly that she initially thought it would be.

Without getting caught she followed him to a room where she saw him holding a mouse in front of his shield. At first she found the situation a bit weird, but it turned scary when one of the painted snakes from the shield ate the small rodent.

Shocked by what she saw, the young Princess fled from the room quicker than when Valiant had held her at sword point.

Unfortunately she wasn´t as silent as she had hoped and Valiant, who heard the noise, got out looking for the culprit. Forcing Mer to hide behind a big column, not daring to use magic to fight the Knight afraid he was a magic user too.

She seemed to only breathe again as Valiant went back to his room and she could stop hiding.

.*.*.

_/a snake, a big supposedly inoffensive painted-in-a-shield snake, a magic snake in a magic shield, a magic shield being hold by a ruthless Knight,_ _/ _she pondered in her way back to Gaius room, and stormed inside.

"I just saw one of the snakes of Valiant´s shield come alive; he´s using magic!" Mer said to Gaius, startling him.

"Are you sure, Merlin?" The old physician looked worried.

The young woman would have rolled her eyes at the question if it hadn´t been declared an undignified habit for a Princess by Hunith.

"The snake had a mouse on its mouth." She tried again. "Ewan was fighting Valiant when he collapsed. I thought that he hadn´t gotten up because of the force of the blow but it must have been that one of the snakes in his shield bit him." Merewyn took a deep breath. "He´s cheating to win. I need to warn Arthur!"

"Merlin, Is there a chance that you might be mistaken?" asked the old man gravely.

Mer shook her head, "I know magic when I see it, Gaius."

"Perhaps, but have you any proof?"

The disguised Princess looked at her mentor in disbelief, "You don´t believe me?"

Gaius looked sad, "I think you would get yourself in trouble; how would you explain what were you doing at Valiant´s chambers."

"That doesn´t matter! He´s using magic to cheat." She said desperately.

Mer didn´t seem to understand and Gaius was getting angry "You can´t go accusing a Knight of using magic without a proof. The King would never accept the word of a servant over the word of a Knight!"

The young Princess blinked at that, "Are you saying that they would not believe me? That what I say doesn´t have any importance or weight?"

"Not to the King," Gaius trailed off.

Merewyn held back the tears that were threatening to fall, finally understanding now what her position as just a servant signified.

Too angry to stay around, she went to her room.

For a while Mer tried to force herself to sleep but, for the distressed Princess, that was impossible that night.

.*.*.

The next morning Merewyn wasn´t being her cheerful self when she went to the tournament to help Arthur with his gear.

"Are you telling me that you have to fight that!" she exclaimed when he saw who Arthur was going to fight; the man was huge.

The Prince nodded, "He´s strong like a bear… but slow." He said smirking.

"And you are fast," Mer smiled lightly when she realized what he meant.

"Exactly" the blond replied with slight smile but quickly recovered his somberness, and Mer sighed as she saw him distancing not just physically.

Trough the gaps between tents, Mer saw Valiant; he stopped to look at her with his intense gaze before continuing his way.

"How are you doing?" asked Gaius startling Merewyn a little.

The Princess shrugged, "I´m fine. Just doing my job; minding my own business." And she went after Arthur.

This day´s fights passed in a blur to Merewyn. She knew that Arthur won his combat but Valiant had won his too and the Princess got even more worried.

_/__Arthur is going to fight Valiant at the final, and Valiant will use his shield to poison him!__ /_

.*.*.

Gaius found Merlin sitting next to Ewan at their quarters. Thinking and looking more worried than the day before.

"Merlin, about what we talked yesterday, I know Uther would not listen to you, or me. But you are right, we can´t let Valiant get away with this…"

"But, we don´t have any proof," she interrupted, using his own arguments against him.

He gestured toward the unconscious man in the bed. "If we succeed at healing Ewan he could tell the King that Valiant is using magic."

Gaius looked at the young woman in the eye, "The King would believe another Knight, but how would we be able to cure Ewan, how could we make the antidote?"

"How?" she repeated puzzled.

/_We need the snake to make the antidote, so we will need the shield_/ thought the Princess and left the chamber in a hurry.

"Merlin!" Gaius called her back, but she ignored him, overly determined to get the snake.

/_Now, the Knight must still be in the hall, dinning with the King_. / Mer went there to see if Valiant was still there, and he was, so she flew to the Knight´s quarters in search of the shield.

The closed door didn´t prevent her from entering the room as she easily used her magic to open the lock. Once inside she looked around for the charmed shield.

/_There it is. Now, maybe I should see how they come out before I carry the shield outside_. _I don´t want to get poisoned on my way to Gaius´ _/ She took a sword and pointed it at the shield carefully touching it with the sharp edge of the weapon, but the snakes remained still. Right then she heard a noise outside, like footsteps approaching, and she walked softly to the door.

Merewyn concentrated, trying to hear if the person outside was coming near the chamber she was currently in, but instead of footsteps approaching she heard a very soft hissing and in the shadows reflected on the wall next to the door she saw a snake figure rising behind her.

The sight frightened her so much that she turned quickly… and beheaded the snake.

/_Ok, if Gaius asks I did that on purpose, not by mistake while turning with a sword in my hands. / _Merewyn thought blushing.

She looked at the green head in the floor; it seemed that its body had gone back to the shield for it was nowhere in the room. Then she heard more hissing. _/What? /_

Mer looked at the shield and saw two more snake heads rising from the painting.

/_This a good moment to leave here, I´m sure_/

The young Princess quickly grabbed the snake's head from the floor and flew the chambers not looking back and, without intending to, leaving the door open.

*TBC*

Next chapter: Gaius makes the antidote & Merewyn talks with Arthur.

A/N: Hope you liked this story and leave a review.

Please be kind; English is not my first language.


	8. antidotes & talks

Princess Merewyn AU

Thanks to Alycee Lanet and Andreia for all their help :)

The remaining mistakes are all mine.

Thoughts are marked _/like this/._

.*.*.

Gaius makes the antidote, and Merewyn talks with Arthur

.*.*.

Merewyn ran all the way to Gaius´ quarters clutching the snake´s head in her hand. Gasping for air she opened the door and showed the old physician the severed head. Gaius immediately took it and began extracting the venom to make the cure while the disguised Princess recovered from the run.

"I have to tell Arthur," said the girl turning to the door.

"Merlin" called Gaius "You will need this" and threw to her the piece of snake which she caught by reflex.

The Princess´ eyes opened wide as she glanced at the snake´s head in her hands, _/good thing Gaius just took the venom out... he took all of it out, didn´t he?/ _she wondered.

The old physician, oblivious to Merewyn scare, continued "And Merlin, what you did was very brave."

At these words Merewyn blushed and hurried out of the room at the feeling of her heated face. _/I just hope he thinks it's because I´m shy to praise, I would not hear the end of it if he finds I did it by mistake while turning with a sword in my hands./_

.*.*.

She arrived at Arthur´s chambers in no time.

Unfortunately for her, Arthur was more familiar with Merewyn´s skill with a sword... or more like the lack of it so he was very doubtful. "You chopped off its head?" asked the Prince incredulous.

Mer took a deep breath and paraphrased the explanation, "Sir Ewan was bitten by a snake from Valiant´s shield when they fought. Talk to Gaius, you could see the punctures at Ewan´s throat where the snake bit him. Ewan was winning; Valiant had to cheat to be the victor."

The blond Prince didn´t look convinced, "Valiant wouldn´t dare use magic in Camelot," he said.

Merewyn closed tightly her hands "Ewan was under the shield, nobody would have seen the snakes."

Arthur shook his head "Look, I don´t like the guy either, but it doesn´t mean he´s a cheater."

/_He won´t believe me and he´s going to end up bitten in the final fight/_ thought Merewyn trying to look calm.

"Gaius is preparing the antidote, when Evan wakes he can tell you what happened. If you fight with Valiant he would use his shield… it´s the only way he can beat you."

Merewyn saw Arthur´s lips curve into a small smile. _/He laughs at me! He doesn´t believe me and now he mocks me/ _she thought desperately, remembering what Gaius had explained about the servants´ value.

"Look at this," she said forcefully; showing him the snake´s head, "have you ever seen a snake like this in Camelot?" the disguised princess took another deep breath, trying to remain calm, as Arthur examined the piece of snake. "I know I´m only a servant and my word doesn´t count for anything." She said saddened.

She looked at the Prince in the eyes, trying to make him understand "I wouldn´t lie to you about this."

Arthur seemed to finally understand the situation, "I want you to swear to me that what you are telling me is true."

Without lowering her eyes Merewyn affirmed "I swear it´s true."

The young girl almost couldn´t believe when the Prince said "Then I believe you." In that moment she felt as if a great weight had left her shoulders and her heart lurched… or maybe it was her stomach that had been churning with worry.

Either way, she smiled brightly.

.*.*.

Arthur immediately requested an audience with the King, and sent guards to bring Valiant to the meeting.

Merewyn tried to not get nervous when she saw all the people that were already in the room; in the pit of her stomach she dreaded the King´s wrath so she stayed behind Arthur and out of sight for the most part.

The Blond explained their suspicions to his father, who seemed even more skeptical than Arthurs´ had been.

The King turned his gaze to the Knight "Valiant, what do you have anything to say at this?"

"My lord, this is ridiculous. I have never used magic. Does your son have any evidence that supports this accusation?"

Turning back to Arthur the King asked "Do you?"

"I do."Arthur replied and gestured to Merewyn who promptly submitted the snake´s head. Which the blond handed to the King, who in turn examined it carefully.

"Let me see the shield," the King commanded.

Merewyn hurried "Don´t get too close!" and Arthur unsheathed his sword, ready for any threat from the shield or the Knight. "Be careful my Lord," said the Prince out loud, then murmured to Mer "We need Ewan, find what is happening."

Merewyn went to Gaius who had just arrived at the room but looked afflicted.

Turning out everything else they spoke in low voices."Gaius, what is wrong?"

"Ewan is dead."

"What? How?"

"I´m not sure. I left the room for a minute and when I got back he was dead," explained the physician with despair.

Arthur joined them slightly annoyed, "Where is Ewan?"

"Dead." Merewyn answered.

"I´m waiting," called the King who was losing his patience.

Arthur gritted his teeth before turning to the King. "I´m afraid the witness is dead."

"Then you have no proof to support these accusations. Or have you seen Valiant using magic?"

"No," answered the Prince, "but my servant…"

"Your servant? You make this outrageous accusation against a Knight on the word of your servant?"

Arthur stood his ground, "I believe he´s telling the truth," he explained.

"My lord," interrupted Valiant, "must I really be judged by what´s said by a boy?"

Merewyn was fuming, "I have seen those snakes become alive!"

"You dare to interrupt!" bellowed the King, "Guards!" he gestured and instantly the guards seized Merewyn.

"My lord," interjected Valiant.

The King paused a second and called to the guards "wait!"

"I´m sure the boy was mistaken. I don´t want him punished on my account." The Knight said magnanimously.

"You see," called the King, "that´s how a true Knight behaves: with gallantry and honor."

Merewyn thought that she saw Valiant smirk "My lord, if your son made this accusation because he´s afraid to fight me, then I would glad accept his withdraw."

Uther turned immediately toward Arthur, "It is true? Do you wish to withdraw from the tournament?"

Arthur looked affronted, "No."

"Then what should I make from this accusations?" asked the King to his son.

Mer was feeling awful. _/How dare they imply that Arthur is afraid of fighting? Don´t they know him? / _

"Obviously there has been a misunderstanding. I withdraw the allegations. Please accept my apologies." Arthur´s words were cold but barely controlled.

This time Mer saw and heard the glee in Valiant words "Accepted."

Arthur turned and left the chamber.

Merewyn froze for a moment when she saw the devastation that Uther´s doubts had caused to his son.

The disguised princess quickly followed the blond to his private room, but was rather surprised when Arthur turned to her angered. "I believed you!" he screamed, "I trusted you and you made me look like a complete fool!"

This time the blonds' words squeezed Merewyn´s heart, leaving her feeling short of breath. "I know it didn´t go according to plan…"

Then Arthur glared at her with rage "Didn´t go according to plan?" he spat, "My father and the entire royal court think I´m a coward! You humiliated me!"

Merewyn swallowed with difficult "We can still expose Valiant…"

Arthur distanced himself from her, "I no longer require your services," he said with the coldest voice Mer had heard in a while.

"Are you sacking me?" asked the girl in despair.

"I need a servant I can trust."

Merewyn's eyes started to water "You can trust me," she said fighting the tears.

"And look what that got me!" throw the Prince, "Get out of my sight."

Merewyn fled the chambers not looking back. She had feel outraged that they hadn´t been able to unmask Valiant, but right now she was feeling like a hole was growing inside of her. Arthur´s words were having a strange effect on her, and she didn´t like the sensation.

She paused for a moment, out of breath, and was surprised to feel her damp cheeks. Suppressing a sob she continued at a slightly slower peace towards the dungeons.

*TBC*

Next chapter: Mer goes to talk with the dragon & Arthur faces Valiant and his shield.

A/N: Hope you liked this story and leave a review.

Please be kind; English is not my first language.


	9. more talks and fights

Princess Merewyn AU

Thanks to Andreia for her help. The remaining mistakes are all mine.

Thoughts are marked _/like this/._

.*.*.

Chapter 5.- Mer goes to talk with the dragon & Arthur faces Valiant and his shield

.*.*.

"Get out of my sigh! Get out of my sight! Get out of my sight!" Arthur´s words kept echoing in Merewyn´s head.

Arthur´s words were having a strange effect in her, and she didn´t like the sensation, or the tears that would not seem to stop while she went all the way to the dungeons and passed the guards unnoticed. She then began descending the stairs and down to the Dragon's lair.

She needed to talk to the dragon.

.*.*.

At the cave Merewyn stood on the edge of the cliff, "Where are you?" she called out loud for the dragon.

She got no answer.

_/He´s a prisoner, could not be anywhere else, so now he´s avoiding me? /_

She was feeling desperate, /_should I just leave? No, I think he needs to know./ _"Just have to tell you: whatever you think my destiny is, whatever you think I´m supposed to do… you got the wrong person."

The echo of her voice was the only sound in the cave.

"That´s it," she breathed, "Goodbye." Dejectedly she turned to leave the cave.

"If only it were that easy to escape your destiny," the dragon´s voice resounded in the cavernous space.

Merewyn focused her slightly red eyes on the shape descending quickly not so far away and frowned. "How can it be my destiny to protect somebody that hates me?" she asked.

"A half cannot truly hate that what makes it whole, you soon would learn."

She moved her arms exasperated "Oh, great, just what I need, another riddle," the girl said as sarcastically as her young years permit.  
The dragon did a strange movement with his head and what she would call 'eyebrows' before stating, "That your and Arthur´s pat lies together is but the truth."

Merewyn blinked, "What´s that supposed to mean?" now she feel she had passed the point for being patient.

"That for you, young sorceress, this is not the end. It is only the beginning."

_/The beginning? Of what? /_ "Just give me a straight answer!" she shouted, but the dragon left without another comment.

She ascended from the cave deeply in thought, _/how could this be the beginning? Arthur doesn't want me close to him anymore! If he wants he could have me banned from the kingdom for this incident; His pride is so important to him that he could have… then, why he didn´t? /_

.*.

She left the cave thinking, and still thinking she sat on some stairs outside the castle.

_/So maybe Arthur doesn´t completely hates me. Must be some of that "both sides of the same coin". Still that means we are opposites so... maybe we aren´t supposed to get along ever. / _That thought brought back the empty feeling inside her.

"It is true?" Gwen´s voice interrupted Mer from truly analyzing the sad feeling. "What you said about Valiant," clarified the dark-skinned servant.

Merewyn nodded, and looked dejectedly at the passing town´s people so she could have a reason to avoid looking into her friends eyes, afraid of what she might see there. Gwen had very expressive eyes and every emotion the girl felt would be clearly reflected there. Merewyn was afraid of seeing distrust in the twin brown pools.

Gwen sat at her side, "What are you going to do?" she asked after a few heartbeats.

Merewyn turned toward her friend astonished, "Why everybody seems to think that is after me to do something?"

"Because it is, isn´t it? You have to show everyone that you were right and they were wrong."

Merewyn let out a shaky breath. "And how am I supposed to do that?" she asked, not really directing the question at Gwen.

"I don´t know," the other girl said sadly.

Mer rested her head in her knees_. /Why nobody can give a good advice when she needed it/ _feeling again as if a heavy weight was resting in her shoulders.

_/So my destiny is to protect Arthur from friends and foes, but I have to do it from far away? I don´t think that would be possible, /_ thought the disguised Princess_,_

_/but I should try to keep him safe nevertheless/_ she decided and went to try again, and maybe this time she would convince the stubborn blond to not fight the rogue Knight.

.*.*.

Obviously Arthur was not happy to see Mer. "I thought I told you to get out of my sight."

Merewyn ignored the comment, "Don´t fight Valiant at the final tomorrow," she pleaded, "He is going to use his shield against you."

Arthur got still and let out a breath, "I know."

The girl blinked, she had not expected that. "You need to withdraw." She said hoping he had changed his mind after having time to calm down and think it over.

Arthur just shook his head. Merewyn looked at the blond in disbelief. "You have to!" she half pleaded, half demanded.

"Don't you understand?" said the Prince with emotion coloring his words, "I cannot withdraw. The people expect their prince to fight. How could I lead men to the battle if they think that I´m a coward?"

"But, but, Valiant will kill you; you fight, you die!"

"Then I die." He deadpanned.

Merewyn looked at the prince with wide-open-eyes. "How can you go out there and fight knowing that?"

"Because I have to. It´s my duty." He said seriously.

.*.

Merewyn left the Prince´s chambers in turmoil. _/How can Arthur think like that? That it is his duty to die before letting people think he´s a coward? /_ She went out of the building and sat on the stairs again.

_/Did my people think of me as a coward because I left Falcon? Because I didn´t stay to fight. The fight wouldn´t have been with swords, and if I had lose I would not have died... at least not immediately, but to get married to that disgusting warlock would easily translate to start dying. My death would have been a slow one, one that would have lasted years or decades. /_

She shook her head as if to shake out the thoughts of her kingdom. _/ I can´t let Arthur die. As Gwen said, I have to prove to the court that I was right. I have to show them that I am right. To show.../_ her thoughts trailed off as she saw the statue of a dog near a door.

_/that the snakes of that shield come alive with magic, but to give life to something like that must be difficult, and I not have too much time to learn how to do it./_

She leaned onto the dog-statue, it looked too heavy to just carry it to her room to try and bring it to life. _/That´s it! I don´t have to make the snakes become alive, they already are. I just need to bring them out where everybody can see them... hopefully before they kill Arthur. / _She smiled slightly and almost kissed the stone dog before standing up.

Merewyn hurried to Gaius´ chambers and into her room.

Taking out the old magic book that Gaius had gifted her with, she started searching for revealing spells.

As she didn´t know which one would work, she tried to memorizing a bunch of them before going to the armory to try them; because she could not go there carrying the book and risk getting caught.

Unfortunately, because of the draining day she had, she fell asleep after a few hours of study.

.*.*.

A knock at her door and Gaius calling her name startled her awake and she stumbled out of her room.

"Arthur is fighting Valiant," said Gaius when he saw Merewyn.

"Already?" she asked missing a heartbeat. "I´m on my way."

Gaius said something about not forget to do something, but she ignored him as she ran all the way to the tournament´s side grounds.

Out of breath she looked for a good spot from which to cast her spells, and started using the enchantments she memorized, but no one seemed to be working.

Breaking in a sweat, she felt a drop run all the way from her forehead to her neck and beyond... _/Oh, no. I forgot the neckerchief... and the glamour! Probably that was what Gaius asked me to remember when I left the chambers. /_

At that moment Merewyn saw Valiant hit Arthur with the shield.

Worried she tried the revealing enchantments again. After all, Arthur´s life was more important than maintaining her secret.

*dun dun dun...TBC*

Next chapter:  
Will a revealing enchantment not work for Merewyn? Should she have practiced "giving life to dog statues"?

Remember that this is an alternate universe, so...

Will Arthur be bitten before he defeats Valiant? Will he defeat the evil knight or will he die of a snake bite?

Will Mer´s secret be revealed?

Is Merewyn going back to her kingdom to accept a slow death by marriage?

(...Nah. )

A/N: Hope you liked this story and leave a review.

Please be kind; English is not my first language.


	10. Arthur gets bitten

Princess Merewyn AU (Female Merlin)

/_thoughts_/

See disclaimer in the first chapter. Thanks to Alycee Lanet and Andreia for all their help :)

Last chapter we left a minus glamour-&-neckerchief Merewyn saying enchantments that didn´t work, trying to save Arthur´s life. Now it is time we continue with the story:

.*.*.*.

Chapter 6.- Arthur´s gets bitten. (just kidding)

The tournament Champion.

.*.*.*.

Merewyn saw Valiant hit Arthur with the shield. Worriedly she tried the enchantments again.

At that moment Arthur hit back to push the other Knight and his shied, as far away as he could.

Both were good fighters but it was obvious, at least for Merewyn, that Arthur was better, but somehow the Prince lost his sword.

_/Is a question of time before Valiant stays close enough to attack with his snakes! /_ That thought was the push that Merewyn´s magic needed to channel the words of the revealing enchantment, in a flash of golden eyes.

Fortunately, Arthur and Valiant were far from each other when the snakes awakened. So everybody in the stands saw them slither out of the shield.

To everybody´s astonishment Valiant shouted at them "No, I didn´t call you out!"

Nevertheless, the snakes reared and prepared to attack the unarmed Prince.

Merewyn froze _/what now, what to do now!/ _but from the stands, Morgana called to Arthur and threw towards him a sword she got from a nearby Knight.

Promptly the blond dispatched both snakes and faced the other Knight. Who fought back with all he had.

Fortunately, as Merewyn had predicted, Arthur probed to be the best fighter and soon Valiant was defeated at Arthur´s feet.

By that time everybody was cheering loudly, and Merewyn saw the big smile in Arthur´s face, while he stood proudly before his father and the rest of the community.

The disguised princess swayed a little and closed her eyes. It had been a close call but finally the weight of the threat of Arthur´s possible death left her.

Leaning onto the wall she composed herself, but saw Arthur turning toward the place she was. Hopefully, Arthur was far away and not looking for his ex-servant, but she still decided to not take the risk and fled. She hurriedly ran off remembering that she hadn´t gotten the glamour she used daily to hide she was a girl.

.*.

Merewyn got to Gaius´ chambers and promptly closed the door. Taking deep breaths she walked to her room and collapsed on the bed.

It was some time later that the old physician called for her from the main room.

Mer groggily walked toward the table and left herself fall into a seat.

"Glad this time you didn´t forget the glamour." He said gesturing toward the princess.

Merewyn shrugged slightly.

The old man sighed, "You got me worried when you run away like that, this morning."

"I was somewhat in a hurry."

"Yes, but I heard that everything went well at the tournament." he gave her an understanding look.

Merewyn truly smiled this time. "Without the shield threat, Arthur victory was easy; He´s the best fighter!"

Gaius looked at her knowlingly and smiled too "The best fighter?"

Mer blushed, "Erm, sure, I mean... he was the last tournament´s champion, wasn´t he?" she tried to amend.

The physician looked at Merewyn with his traditional one-arched-eyebrow glare, "That he was." He finally conceded.

"Well," he said clearing his throat, "don´t forget the neckerchief."

Merewyn looked at the open door of her room, lifted her hand and the piece of fabric flew toward her open hand, to the old man indignation.

"Merlin!" he admonished.

Merewyn smirked, "sorry" she said insincerely. "Where are we going?"

"To the feast." Gaius deadpaned.

The disguised Princess blinked, "I don´t think that's a good idea, I´m not Arthur´s servant anymore, and I´m not sure he wants to see me." She tried to explain nervously.

Gaius smiled kindly at her, "Then you are just my apprentice again?"

"I guess so." She mumbled.

He patted Mer softly on the shoulder, "Then the court physician and his apprentice must hurry to attend the festivities."

Mer smiled at the old man and followed him out.

She would be at the feast and would be happy knowing she was proved right in front of the King, the court and everybody who had seen the last fight at the tournament.

So, she couldn´t go and tell them "I told you so" openly, but just by beeing there and smile at them while thinking it would be enough...for now.

.*.*.

At the feast Merewyn was mesmerized, again, by the beautiful gowns that the court ladies were wearing. How she longed for a dress.

Noticing a proud Arthur escorting Morgana she turned to Gaius to point, "See, I told you he´ll get the girl and the glory."

"And he owes it all to you." He summarized.

Merewyn sighed before walking away, "But he would never know." She tought outloud.

.*.

Merewyn was getting into the cheer-mood, and when Gwen smiled to her from afar, Mer smiled back without hesitation, knowing the other servant was happy for Mer being there too.

The disguised Princess even smiled when Arthur got close to her. It could have been awkward after all; the work-relationship between them had ended in not so good terms, but she felt vindicated as at the fight everybody had seen that Mer (and Arthur) had been right about the shield and the snakes.

So Merewyn was feeling happy in an 'I´m-right,-you-were-wrong' kind of way, so when the prince got at her side she was kind of hoping for an apology of some type… She should have known it wouldn´t happen that way.

"Can you believe Morgana!" said the blond annoyed, Mer was confused and just shook her head. "She says that she saved my life," continued the Prince, "like I would need any help from a girl."

Mer was glad she hadn´t been drinking in that moment or she would have spitted all over the good clothes of the Prince in front of her.

Arthur should have noticed Mer wasn´t so cheerefull anymore because he fidget some before continuing, "hum, wanted to say, that I made a mistake… It was unfair to sack you…" he trailed off.

Mer´s lips twitched slightly, "Don´t worry, buy me a drink and we are even," she joked trying to light the mood, hopeful that they could maintain a friendly relationship that would made easier her job of keeping him safe.

Arthur looked at her in a strange way before he shook his head, "I can´t be seen buying drinks to my servant," he said.

Mer turned to the Prince so quick that she risked whiplash, "Your servant?" she asked in astonishment, "but you sacked me!"

Arthur looked pleased with himself when he said "Now, I re-hire you."

The disguised Princess looked at him unbelieving it, while the blond just continued unfazed, "My chamber is a complete mess, you´ll see; my clothes need washing, my armor needs repairing, my boots need cleaning, my dogs need exercising, my fireplace needs sweeping, my bed needs changing, and somebody needs to muck my stables…"

Mer felt exasperated but deep inside she couldn´t help but feel relieved they would stay close after all. So she just rolled her eyes in annoyance as the Prince listed her chores _/the prat must be jok… what? Muck the stables? But I don´t know how…/_

_.*.*._

*THE END of Episode 2*

(the story would be marked as complete until the next episode is ready)

Next chapter… hopefully, soon.

A/N: If you are interested in doing beta-work or just helping me with the next one please PM me. I need a lot of help because:

**English is not my first language :)**

**.*.**

Hope you liked this story and leave a review.

Please be kind.


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